Self-fulfilling prophecy

If you are an optimistic and confident person and think only good thoughts, good things will happen to you. If, on the other hand, you are by nature a pessimistic person who lacks confidence, you tend to think only bad thoughts and bad things will happen to you. Such thinking whether positive or negative easily becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Likewise, if you have been thinking about something that it becomes a dominant thought in your mind. Each time you think about the same thing over and over again, it supports and strengthens the dominant thought. It is really reality being replayed. Your dominant thought dictates how you act or behave, and when you act or behave according to it, it brings about the full and true realization of your thinking. A prophecy is thus self-fulfilled.

Whatever you believe become your reality. If you believe you can never have more money in your life, chances are you will always remain poor and not having the kind of money which you would like to have. You will unconsciously act in ways that are in accordance with your belief and that is ensuring you remain poor. When you remain poor, you will think that's the way you always are and that is not having more money. Thus, your belief has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Many people are unaware that what they constantly worry about become their beliefs and their beliefs. For example, the belief or worry of many people is that they start to lose their memory as they get older. It applies also to those who exclaim, “I can’t remember where I left my glasses. I have such poor memory.” You are suggesting to yourself that you are losing your memory or you have a poor memory, and the more you dwell on it the more it becomes your belief, and the more likely it is to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Here, you are indicating to yourself that your belief is true.

If you feel like a failure, every time you do something you allow your feeling to influence you to fail. Each time you fail, you are likely to say to yourself “I am a born failure”, “I always fail” and “I can’t help it; that’s the way I am.” You strengthen your belief that you are a failure, and this causes you to fail again and again.

Those with self-esteem view their failure differently. They know they are likely to fail sometime and it is normal to fail. They do not believe that failure is something that they are born with. They look upon failure as a feedback to be used as a basis for improvement. They do not worry about failure, knowing that worrying about something attracts that very thing. They instead have developed an abundance mentality, and abundance is what they will enjoy in life.

Self-fulfilling prophecy does not occur only to your negative thoughts. Where your thoughts are positive, self-fulfilling prophecy can also happen. Think only good thoughts to make good things happen to you through self-fulfilling prophecy. Your positive thinking must be a repetitive process through which a positive statement is accepted by your subconscious mind, and acting in accordance with it, you make it come true. Repetition has to be accompanied by feelings for it to be effective.

You can thus avoid fulfilling your negative beliefs by believing that you are what you think, and not what others think of you. What you think is important; what others think is of no significance. The best remedy lies in thinking positively. If you think positive thoughts, positive things will happen to you. If you think you are not an idiot, you are not. If you think you are a really quick worker and you can do the things, you are and you can. Self-fulfilling prophecy really works if you have faith in it and apply it diligently as your behaviour is a reflection of what you believe.

If people around you think the same thing about you, for example that you are an idiot, they tend to treat you like an idiot. The consistency of their attitude towards you may cause you to believe them, and you begin to act like one. You thus self-fulfil a prophecy. Similarly if you think you can’t do something or slow in doing things, it is likely your thinking will influence you to not being able to do it or not want to do it, or slow in doing it.

It is unsafe to generalize. This is because when generalize, you make no allowance for exceptions. For example, you say “He always makes me angry”. Always? Was there a time when he did not make you angry? Whatever he says or does with no intention of making you feel angry, you are sure to feel angry. This is the effect of generalization which is your belief and like all beliefs is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you generalize wrongly, it certainly becomes a problem. It also does not open you to new experiences or allow you to change your beliefs. Beliefs are examples of generalizations. Worse things can happen with generalization. For instance, you say with conviction, “All women cannot be trusted” after experiencing an unpleasant relationship with a woman. Such generalization stops you from seeking out a relationship with a woman as you have to look for an exceptional woman who can be trusted by you. But you are very unlikely to find such a woman and you end up avoiding any sort of relation with any woman.

You do not get what you want; you get what you expect. You drive to your destination and want to arrive there early, but you expect to arrive late. Chances are you will arrive late because whatever you expect becomes your own self-fulfilling prophecy. Similarly, if you confidently expect something good to happen to you like arriving early at your destination, your expectation has a big influence on your attitude and action. Both ensure you get the desired result.

Harbour no fears for fear of bad things happening is also a self-fulfilling prophecy. The fear of losing your partner or investment, or failing your exam, going to be fired from your job, or contracting a disease drives you to behave or do the very things that facilitate the realization of your fear.

The placebo effect, known widely in the medical field, is a notable example of self-fulfilling prophecy. Patients record improvement when given placebos, which have no proven medical effect. They believe they are given an effective drug. The belief itself brings about the cure.

Good and bad actions, feelings and behaviours have the potential of becoming self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s up to you to moderate your negative thinking and concentrate only on the good things.